1. He painted the emperor a gold tree.
2. He painted a gold tree for the emperor.
3. He painted a gold tree to the emperor.
(Are they all grammatical? Which preposition do we have to use?)
4. Ma Liang kept painting.
(Ma Liang is a person's name. What is the part of speech of 'painting'? Is it 'a gerund' of 'a present participle'? Is 'painting' the subject complement or the object of the verb'kept'?)
#2 is the best. #1 may be grammatically correct, but at first glance "he painted the emperor!" #3 is incorrect.
Here "painting" is the present participle of the verb "to paint."
Sra
1. The sentence "He painted the emperor a gold tree" is grammatically correct. In this sentence, the preposition "a" is used to indicate that the gold tree was given or made for the emperor.
2. The sentence "He painted a gold tree for the emperor" is also grammatically correct. In this sentence, the preposition "for" is used to show that the gold tree was intended for the emperor.
3. The sentence "He painted a gold tree to the emperor" is not grammatically correct. The preposition "to" is not appropriate in this context. Instead, either "a" or "for" should be used to indicate the relationship between the painting and the emperor.
4. In the sentence "Ma Liang kept painting," the word "painting" is a gerund acting as the direct object of the verb "kept." A gerund is a verb form that functions as a noun in a sentence. In this case, "painting" functions as a noun representing the action of painting that Ma Liang kept doing. It is not a present participle, which acts as an adjective or part of a verb phrase. In this sentence, "painting" is neither the subject complement nor the object of the verb "kept." Instead, it functions as the direct object of the verb.